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The big stories to hit our newswire this week raised some questions it seems. We have Joe Brockmeier asking why e-mail is still stuck in the 1990's, who is in the running to buy Novell, could it be VMWare or possibly even Red Hat? Steve Rosenberg is intrigued by the latest Linux Mint, a review of TinyCore 3.0, Linux applications with peculiar names, the bully in the Linux schoolyard and to wrap things up we have some Microsoft FUD on how Android is not really free. Enjoy!

In the LXWR this week we have some new happenings with Diaspora, debunking the 1% Myth and a rather subdued response to the announcement of the Open Solaris fork known as OpenIndiana. Also, a Gartner report predicts Android will the top mobile OS by 2014 and could Oracle fracture open source community? Enjoy!

There is nothing quite like a good conversation and we have a plethora of articles that started many a good one in our forums this past week including Abiword has smart quotes, what technology has Microsoft ever been the first to market with? Another "There are too many Linux's" article and look out, your Linux system fell down and it can't get up. Enjoy!

The big stories this week include still more fallout from the Oracle-Google lawsuit, 10 differences between Linux and BSD, the joys of determining Linux market share, Microsoft says they love Open Source..again, and last but not least Paul Allen decides to sue just about everybody for patent infringement. Enjoy!

In this week's Roundup we have more on the Oracle - Google lawsuit, how corporate America went open source, games that transmit GPS coordinates, converting eBooks, a space elevator and a Happy 17th Birthday to Debian. Enjoy!

The big news this week is a double shot of Oracle both suing Google for supposed Java copyright infringement in Android and the killing of OpenSolaris. Our own Hans Kwint expounds the merits of anticipating lock-in and much more in this weeks LXWR. Enjoy!

When discussing 'migration' costs from one platform or piece of software to another, I noted many people fail to understand the idea of 'exit costs'. In this article, I present my explanation of exit costs, and I hope this article may serve as a reference to exit costs in the future. Especially people involved with decision-taking in IT are encouraged to read this article!

Some of the big stories this past week included Cisco creating their own tablet, SCALE moves to a larger venue, Bruce Byfield asks is KDE 3 Zombified or Resurrected?, Run Chrome the easy way and Carla Schroder sets off a nuclear weapon in the LXer forums. Ever drink a bottle of Rum all to yourself? I hope all our U.S. readers had as much fun July 4th as I apparently did. Enjoy!

In the LXWR this week we have a Mac devotee moving to Linux, you want Linux to run what?, Marcel Gagne talks about when Linux was fun, Phoronix does a five-way Linux distro comparison and Steven Rosenberg says goodbye to Ubuntu..sort of. Enjoy!

In this week's Roundup we have a battle between KDE3 and KDE4,Linux versus the world: The unwinnable war?, Dell removes "Ubuntu is safer than Microsoft® Windows® " statement from website and today marks my three year anniversary as E-i-C for LXer. You know, I think my grammar has gotten a little better.

According to Google cache, at 17 June 2010 05:08:28 GMT, Dell's website stated:"Ubuntu is safer than Microsoft® Windows® The vast majority of viruses and spyware written by hackers are not designed to target and attack Linux. (screenshot)

However, within 24 hours, it seems Dell changed its mind, and now their website states: "Ubuntu is secure -- According to industry reports, Ubuntu is unaffected by the vast majority of viruses and spyware."

I asked Dell for comments using their "website feedback function", will keep you updated. If you think Dell bent to pressure from Microsoft again, please raise your hand!

Update: The VarGuy has already noticed this bold Dell-statement eight days ago, and they made a screenshot - now available in PDF - to prove this was on the Dell-website. Tom's Hardware also wrote about this Dell statement four days ago, and they included their own PDF (time-stamped) showing the 'old' statement on the page. A hand full of other websites also wrote about the 'original' statement.

In this week's LXWR we have Jono Bacon's Ubuntu: meritocracy not democracy, can virtual PCs save desktop Linux? Is Android fragmentation something to fear? The four different types of Linux users and our own Hans Kwint says "Tear down this stair!". Enjoy!

Even though all ingredients for a successful Linux tablet were ready, and the distributed software development used by FOSS is normally much quicker in replying to demands than a closed environment, Apple is already satisfying the tablet-PC market with their iPad. A viable FOSS-solution is not yet available, though Computex will ameliorate the situation.

This 'report' - provided for free to you by LXer Linux News - will show how Apple became the leader and what the competition needs to do to have a shot at all consumers who didn't buy a tablet yet. As an extra, at the end of the article, there's an explanation of why 'competition of standards' fails, harms society and screws customers.

Some of the big stories this week include Google switching out Windows for Linux and Mac, hackers promise a demo of Android rootkit, Linux users vs. Linux Culture, does the Internet make you smarter and a whole lot more. Enjoy!

Some of the big stories this week included the secret identities of Linux distributions, a new flash filesystem, Phoronix tests the speed of Arch against Ubuntu, Android gets an OnStar application, how Linux saved a fast food giant and last but not least a story entitled 'I could license you to use this software, but then I’d have to kill you'. Enjoy!

In the Roundup this week we have a Faster and better Chrome 5 as well as 5 things you didn’t know VLC could do, Why rejecting Microsoft’s OSS contributions is counter-productive, Upgrading your distro should come with a warning and more. Enjoy!

The big news this week was Ubuntu 10.04 being released and all the hoopla surrounding it, but not to be missed was HTC's settlement with Microsoft over a Android patent deal, the challenges of Linux netbook design, Sony starts to feel the heat for blocking Linux installs on its PS3 and put windows to its most appropriate use, make a bootable Linux USB stick with it. Enjoy!

The following steps provide two methods of putting the fresh new release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) on a USB stick. The first method will create a bootable USB stick with a live version and the second process will create a live version with persistence. Both methods are an excellent way to always have your favorite Ubuntu system and software with you at all times and it makes for one of the simplest ways to conduct an install to a hard drive.

In this week's LXWR we have Oracle charging for Sun's ODF plug-in, Stallman reconsiders his existence, Steve Jobs tells people who want porn to buy an Android, a farewell to Songbird and much more. Enjoy!

This week its all about choosing, switching, installing and migrating to Linux along with the question; Can I be a Windows, Apple, Linux, and Google guy all at once? Also, Microsoft wants to play the Open Source game, why iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad Owners should use Linux and why I Want My Daughter to be a Hacker. Enjoy!

This week we have Jim Zemlin and SJVN weighing in on IBM's supposed breaking of their own pledge to open source many of their patents. Are HP and Dell giving up on netbooks? What will come after Linux? Jack Wallen sees the future, a review of Tiny Me and much more in this week's LXWR.

Whether you want to run the newest and safest version of Firefox or you want to test a new Alpha, it might happen the package manager of your Linux distribution doesn't include the version you want. In this article we'll look at ways to install the newest version beyond the package manager, and even better: Running multiple Firefox versions on the same system - even at the same time!

Sorry for the late posting of the LXWR. This past week we had several different Ubuntu related items including Mark Shuttleworth stating "This is not a democracy", a list of Linux applications you might not know of and our Hans Kwint shows us that there are real alternatives to the iPad. Enjoy!

Apart from Apple, some other companies are bringing some interesting tablets. In contrary to the iTab, those other tablets do run Linux. Some are already available, such as the TouchBook from Always Innovating (AI), and some have supposedly better screens, like the Notion Ink Adam tablet. From the info available from Sola's blog on the Notion Ink tablet, from the Wikipedia-info on the iPad and AI Touchbook and from the website of the AI touchbook I made a feature table so you can compare features. Apart from that, let's take a look at the future: What technologies are coming to this market?

This past week on LXer we had Jonathan Schwartz reminiscing in "Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal", a newbies guide to hacking the Linux kernel, Phoronix reviews power and memory usage in the various desktop environments, Former Sun chief open source officer Simon Phipps joins the OSI board, Jack Deslippe explains why he no longer uses Apple products and last but not least my editorial on why Windows users have no Choice. Enjoy!

In the area of window managers Linux users are completely and totally spoiled rotten. We constantly debate the merits of one desktop environment/window manager over another. We argue over what programs are better than others, what versions of those programs we like over another and getting in world class pissing contests all the while crying about what we wish they would do better or differently. I wish Windows users had this problem, but they don't. Why? Because they have no choice.

In the LXWR this week we have Munich showing off its migration to Linux at CeBIT, Ubuntu opens up a music store, a nice review of OpenShot, Jeff Hoogland 'mints' his girlfriends laptop, the three giants of Linux and a LXer feature about contributing upstream..enjoy!

The foundations of Linux, with how it has been developed and when we look at the Debian model on which Ubuntu is based, the contributions of developers by and large are because of their common interests and a willingness to accept conceptualizations. In recently viewing an interview with Mark Shuttleworth these contributions were stated. Passing on the valor per-say to that foundation and the current developers engaged in the Ubuntu project.

In this week's LXWR we have a Ubuntu fanboy who comes clean, A Windows metrics source lies about his identity, is Linux Distro-hopping a Thing of the Past?, SCALE 8x: Review Of My Road Trip To L.A. and a whole lot more.

I was going to just cover the 2nd and 3rd days of SCALE 8x but after getting back home and sitting myself down in front of my favorite compy and started thinking about it, I figured I might as well go all out and give you a full recap of my road trip from Phoenix to Los Angeles for SCALE 8x and back.

The big stories this past week included Intel and Nokia announcing that they are going to merge their mobile Linux efforts and call it MeeGo , the top 25 programming errors list gets updated, Eric Van Haesendonck says what he thinks is wrong with Android and Miguel de Icaza gives an update on what his team at Novell has been up too. Also, a list of 20 computers you will probably use in the near future, five great Netbook operating systems, Twitter shares their open source with the world and a whole lot more in This week's LXWR.

In honor of Valentine's Day we have Ken Starks take on nerd mating rituals, Carla Schroder actually gets emotional about Ubuntu, Juliet Kemp espouses the goodness of Xfce and Computer Bob continues his Debian adventure along with Google Buzz, Scientists releasing code and more in the LXer Weekly Roundup.

Tonight FOSDEM 2010 starts with the beer event, and tomorrow the main conference starts. It's held again at the University 'ULB' in Brussels south-east (near the embassies) in Belgium.

Just like last year, LXer will be there. I will try to go both days to cover some talks for you. The schedule promises some interesting talks like that of Greg Koah Hartman, another talk about the RepRap 'cheap' 3D printer that prints its own parts. There's also a Mozilla-room, a distro-room, an embedded room. a KDE and a Gnome room, the Drupal room, the 20-minute Lightning talks which could be about anything and many more.

A few weeks ago I was chatting with one of our Clients, he owns a company that does hooks up for prospective Employers with prospective Employees in the Fitness Industry, and in the process makes a few bob. He was complaining about his Asus netbook, which had Windows XP loaded on it, and how it has been getting progressively slower over time and knowing I use Linux, in fact I had recommended last year that he get someone, or do it himself and install Ubuntu UNR. He asked if I would install Linux on his machine.

A new test version of Youtube offers HTML 5 video support, meaning watching videos without Adobe Flash, but only when browsing with Chrome or Safari. While this might seem strange at first, and might sound like Google is abandoning its Firefox users, things are a little bit more complicated.